Women's Basketball Prepares For Final Non-Conference Games

Dec. 28, 2005

2006 Gonzaga Women's Basketball Notes - Dec. 28
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Game No. 14 - UTAH VALLEY STATE Friday - Dec. 30, 3:30 p.m. (PST) McKay Center (8,500) - Orem, UT


GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (4-9, 0-0 West Coast)F - 42 Stephanie Hawk, 6-3, Jr., Ontario, OR     (12.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.4 apg)F - 44 Anne Bailey, 6-0, Sr., Snohomish, WA     (10.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.6 apg)F - 54 Simone Santos, 6-2, Jr., Foz do Iguacu, Brazil     (3.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)G - 21 Katy Ridenour, 5-11, Jr., Post Falls, ID     (8.0 pprg, 3.5 rpg, 2.2 apg)G - 34 Katie Prichard, 5-9, Sr., Elk, WA     (2.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.7 apg)HEAD COACH: Kelly Graves (University of New Mexico, 1988)GONZAGA RECORD: 84-78 (6th year); CAREER RECORD: 150-104 (9th year)
UTAH VALLEY STATE COLLEGE WOLVERINES (2-8)F - 20 Ashley Grimm, 6-0, Fr., Salt Lake City, UT     (5.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.9 apg)F - 24 Miriam Palkki, 6-1, Sr., Provo, UT     (11.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 0.6 apg)C - 44 Robyn Fairbanks, 6-1, Fr., Raymond, Alberta     (15.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.5 apg)G - 25 Hollie Beaman, 5-9, Fr., Kingwood, TX     (7.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.4 apg)G - 34 Sandy Marvin, 5-6, Fr., Spring Lake, UT     (10.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.0 apg)HEAD COACH: Cathy Nixon (Brigham Young University, 1989)UVSC RECORD: 17-43 (3rd year); CAREER RECORD: 207-116 (10 years)SERIES: Gonzaga leads 1-0

Game No. 15 - PORTLAND STATE Monday - Jan. 2, 7 p.m. McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) - Spokane, WA Radio: KGA 1510 AM (pre-game show 30 minutes prior to tip)


PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY VIKINGS (6-4, 0-0 Big Sky)F - 11 Kelsey Kahle, 5-10, Fr., Aurora, OR     (17.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.5 apg)F - 20 Heather Arns, 5-9, Jr., Hillsboro, OR     (9.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.8 apg)C - 44/50 Brianna Thompson, 6-0, So., Maple Valley, WA     (13.4 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.3 apg)G - 1 Jenni Ritter, 5-9, Fr., Klamath Falls, OR     (10.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.9 apg)G - 22 Sharon Wahinekapu, 5-7, Sr., Waimanalo, HI     (7.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.0 apg)HEAD COACH: Charity Elliott (Missouri State University, 1992)PSU RECORD: 9-27 (2nd year); CAREER RECORD: 37-61 (4th year)SERIES: Gonzaga leads 6-5

HEAD COACH Kelly Graves: Kelly Graves is in his sixth season as the head coach at Gonzaga University having built the Bulldogs into an annual West Coast Conference contender. After winning just 5 games his first season, Graves guided the Bulldogs to their first regular-season title since 1988 last year when GU posted a 28-4 record and 14-0 mark in the WCC. It was only the second time a school has run the table in the league, Graves was an assistant coach at the University of Portland when the Pilots accomplished the feat in 1997. Graves was named the WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year and WCC Coach of the Year as Gonzaga ran off a nation's-best 23 game win streak and earned the school's first national ranking. Graves is currently the school's career wins leader with a 84-78 record. He has twice been named the WCC Coach of the Year at Gonzaga (2003 & 2005) and boasts a 150-104 career record including 65-47 in WCC action.

Head coach Kelly Graves picked up career win No. 150 against San Jose State last Friday.

BULLDOGS FACE FINAL NON-CONFERENCE FOES: Gonzaga will play its final two non-conference games of the regular-season prior to opening West Coast Conference play at home. The Bulldogs close out 2005 with a road game at Utah Valley State College on Friday afternoon and ring in 2006 with a Monday night game against Portland State University. Gonzaga knocked off both opponents at home last season and will look to build on their win over San Jose State University prior to the Christmas break.

SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES: Gonzaga travels to Orem, Utah, to face Utah Valley State in their final road non-conference game of the season. Gonzaga knocked off the Wolverines, 87-41, last season to open play in the McCarthey Athletic Center. UVSC is off to a 2-8 start this year with Robyn Fairbanks leading the team with 15 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Gonzaga will play Utah Valley State as part of a men's/women's doubleheader marking the third time this year GU has played on the road as part of doubleheader. The Bulldogs are 0-2 in those other road games with losses at Idaho and Sacramento State.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: Gonzaga hosts Portland State on Monday night in the final non-conference game of the season. Gonzaga leads the all-time series 6-5 including a 66-48 win over the Vikings last year in Spokane. Portland State is much improved this year with a 6-4 record that includes wins over Arkansas, Portland and Santa Clara. The Vikings play at Idaho on Wednesday before the trip to Spokane. Freshman Kelsey Kahle leads the team with 17.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

SEVENTH LINE-UP A WINNER: Head coach Kelly Graves inserted his seventh line-up of the season on the floor against San Jose State last Friday and this time the Bulldogs came up winners as the combination of Katie Prichard, Katy Ridenour, Stephanie Hawk, Anne Bailey and Simone Santos helped the Bulldogs snap a four-game losing streak. Graves has moved former starting forward Ashley Anderson into a role off the bench as he looks for some continuity heading into the WCC season.

Sophomore Elaina Renius swatted away four shots during a loss at Denver. Gonzaga has 58 team blocks this season.

RIDENOUR PERFECT FROM THE FIELD: Junior guard Katy Ridenour had a perfect game shooting from the field during last Friday's win over San Jose State as she knocked down 5-of-5 shots from the field including 2-of-2 from 3-point range. She finished with 15 points as the Bulldogs shot 56 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point land. Ridenour continues to be the Bulldogs most effective 3-point shooter connecting for 46 percent on 17-of-37 shooting. She has hit at least one 3-pointer in 8 of 13 games this season including a string of one 3-pointer in her last four games.

BULLDOGS AND THE 3-POINTER: In the Bulldogs final home game in the Martin Centre, Gonzaga witnessed its consecutive game streak with a 3-pointer made come to an end against the University of San Francisco. That 0-for-6 performance against the Lady Dons ended a 222 game streak in which the Bulldogs had made at least one 3-pointer in a game. The streak started after the Bulldogs went 0-for-10 against the University of San Diego on Feb. 17, 1996. Gonzaga rebounded from that performance to knock down seven 3-pointers in each of its next two games and has extended its current streak to 51 games. The Bulldogs record for 3-pointers made in a game is 14 against UC Riverside on Dec. 31, 2001. Gonzaga has recorded 17 games with 10 or more 3-pointers made since the 3-point basket was incorporated into the college game including a 13 3-point performance against Santa Clara last season to open West Coast Conference play.

HAWK PICKS UP SECOND DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Junior forward Stephanie Hawk picked up her second career double-double during the Bulldogs loss at Denver. Hawk scored a team-high 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Hawk followed up that performance with a 13 point effort against San Jose State to hit double figures for the 10th time this season. Hawk currently leads the team with 12.6 points per game and ranks second with 5.6 rebounds per game.

BAILEY JUST MISSES DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Senior Anne Bailey just missed her sixth double-double of her career against San Jose State as she scored 10 points and led all players with 9 rebounds. Bailey ranks second on the team with 10.7 points per game and leads the Bulldogs with 5.8 rebounds per game. Bailey has now pulled down 559 rebounds to move into 13th place on the Gonzaga career rebounding list. She needs three more rebounds to tie Kelli Howell (1991-95) for 12th on the career list. Bailey is 29 rebounds behind Janet Robertson (1980-84) for 10th on the career list. Only 9 Gonzaga players have ever cracked the 600 career rebound list with Ashley Burke and Raeanna Jewell both joining that club last year.

BJORKLUND SHINES AGAINST SPARTANS: For the second time this season freshman guard Jami Bjorklund stepped up against San Jose State as she led the Bulldogs with 17 points during their Dec. 23 win. In two games this season against San Jose State, Bjorklund is averaging 14.5 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 64 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range. Two of her four double digit scoring performances have come against the Spartans as the Spokane native is shooting 38 percent for the year with 6.5 points per game.

RENIUS STEPS UP AGAINST PIONEERS: Sophomore center Elaina Renius had another solid performance for the Bulldogs in a loss at Denver. Renius swatted away four shots to give her 11 blocks on the year. She also scored 6 points and pulled down 4 rebounds during 16 minutes of action. Her most complete game of the season came against Northern Colorado in the John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic where she scored 8 points, pulled down 9 rebounds and picked up 3 blocked shots.

BULLDOGS LEAD REBOUNDING MARGIN: Despite a 4-9 record this year, Gonzaga continues to be the best rebounding team in the West Coast Conference as they hold a 0.9 rebound margin over their opponents. Only LMU (0.5) and Portland (0.1) have positive rebound margins this season to join Gonzaga. Anne Bailey and Stephanie Hawk each rank in the Top 10 in the WCC for rebounding.

LANEY HITTING HER STRIDE: After battling through two seasons of injury and a role as the team's defensive stopper last year, fifth-year senior Juliann Laney is finally hitting the stride she showed as a true freshman. Since returning from a hamstring injury that forced her to miss 8 games, Laney has scored in four straight games including a six point effort in the win over San Jose State. She is shooting 46 percent from the field and 75 percent from 3-point range with 3.2 points per game. As a freshman Laney averaged 5.7 points per game in 29 appearances.

Juliann Laney has scored in her last four games since returning from a hamstring injury. The Bulldogs face Utah Valley State and Portland State this week.

ANOTHER STRONG DEFENSIVE EFFORT: Gonzaga turned in yet another strong defensive effort against San Jose State last week holding the Spartans to 36 percent shooting. Gonzaga has held opponents below 40 percent shooting in 8 of 13 games this season and at 38.3 percent for the year. Idaho had the the highest percentage of the year against Gonzaga hitting 48.9 percent from the floor. The 38.3 leads the West Coast Conference as only the Bulldogs and Loyola Marymount are currently holding opponents under 40 percent shooting for the season.

ANOTHER STRONG CROWD: Gonzaga once again had a strong crowd at the McCarthey Athletic Center as 1,155 fans turned out to watch the Bulldogs knock off San Jose State. The Bulldogs lead the WCC with 1,574 fans per game while selling more than 1,100 season tickets this year. Including the Bulldogs two exhibitions this year, GU has drawn more than 1,000 fans for every home contest this season with a season high of 1,843 for the Eastern Washington game.

BULLDOGS SIGN SIX NEW PLAYERS: Gonzaga head coach Kelly Graves announced the signing of six new players that will join the Bulldogs team for the 2006-07 season. Signing national letters of intent with the Bulldogs were Janelle Bekkering, Heather Bowman, Michelle Elliott, Vivian Frieson, Simone Jordan and Tatriana Lorenzo. Bekkering is a 6-0 guard/forward at W.R. Myers High in Taber, Alberta, Canada. Bowman is a 6-2 forward from Spokane's Lewis and Clark High. Elliott is 5-11 guard from Pasco, Wash., who played two seasons at San Diego State University before attending Columbia Basin College for classes this season. Frieson is a 6-0 forward from Seattle's Garfield High. Jordan is a 5-10 guard from Franklin High in Portland. Lorenzo is a 5-7 point guard from Kamahameha High in Honolulu.

WCC TOURNAMENT COMES TO SPOKANE: The West Coast Conference Tournament will makes its first appearance in Spokane as the Bulldogs host the annual men's and women's championship on March 2-6 at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Gonzaga women have advanced to the last two WCC Championship games losing to Loyola Marymount in 2004 at San Diego and to host Santa Clara last season.

Upcoming Events

Results

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus 5-seed Ole Miss on March 20, 2026 , Loss , 66, to, 81

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus WCC Championship Game vs. Oregon State on March 10, 2026 , Win , 76, to, 66

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus WCC Championships - Semifinal vs. Santa Clara on March 9, 2026 , Win , 88, to, 60

Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Portland on February 28, 2026 , Loss , 91, to, 92 , OT

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus Saint Mary's on February 26, 2026 , Win , 75, to, 67

Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Pacific on February 21, 2026 , Win , 85, to, 70

Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus Washington State on February 19, 2026 , Win , 75, to, 50

Completed Event: Women's Basketball at Loyola Marymount on February 14, 2026 , Loss , 63, to, 72

Women's Basketball Prepares For Final Non-Conference Games

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